Hanging out on Sunday Cooking

Yesterday we spent a good part of the day cooking with a few members of the Walker Jones Farm community.  It was a welcome relaxing and recharging day.  Hanging out chatting, listening to music and doing kitchen prep work felt like the perfect remedy to the day in day out busy-ness that we all practice! The product of our labor will be part of the meal this coming Tuesday at the DC Public School Walker Jones' Back to School Night.  The school is the home of the Farm at Walker Jones where we have been working.  We are really excited that much of the meal that will be served to parents Tuesday night is coming from the farm– collard greens, beets and zucchini.  The meal is being prepared with a whole lot of help from our friends.

Yesterday we made beet ketchup and batter for a zucchini cake.  The tester recipe below for the zucchini cake we made vegan but the batter for the dinner was made with eggs.  If you want you can substitute the 1 cup of tofu with 4 eggs.

Walker Jones Farm Zucchini Cake (vegan version)

1 cup pureed silken tofu (can substitute 4 eggs)

2 cups sugar (we used a vegan cane sugar which is somewhat less processed than most granulated sugars and is also certified fair trade)

1 1/3 cups olive oil (you can taste this so use a good quality oil)

1 c whole wheat flour (we used a stone ground flour from a small mill that adds great taste and texture)

1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg

2 heaping cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients in a mixer and mix until just fully incorporated.  Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with olive oil spray.  Spread batter evenly on sheet pan and cook until cake is slightly springy to the touch, about 20 minutes.

Family Lunch/Dinner Saturday September 18

I got to spend the whole day at the Farm at Walker Jones today with John and about 25 volunteers of all ages, harvesting beets, planting turnips and salad mache, weeding...

The weather was phenomenal.  Martin-Lane spent most of the day at ballet.  We all landed at the house around 4:00 happy, weary and hungry!

We threw together a quick lunch mostly with produce from our home garden at 1508 and todays picks from The Farm at Walker Jones...

Raw Green Bean Salad with Capers and Mustard

Wilted Beet Greens with Balsamic

Raw Pear and Cabbage Salad with Walnut Oil and Sherry Vinegar

Raw Shredded Zucchini with Olive Oil, Lemon Juice and Thyme

Cracked Wheat with Small Tomatoes and Sorrel

Red Lentils with Piccolo Basil

Small Beet and Chocolate Cakes

Passing Dinner, September 10, 2010

Most of our Home Restaurants are seated dinners.  We have done cocktails, a couple buffets, some lunches and breakfasts but last Friday was different.  We can seat 20 (once we pushed it to 22) at one table and a couple times have sat an additional table of 10 in the library.  The party last Friday was to celebrate a birthday and as the guest list grew it became apparent that a seated dinner would not be logistically possible.  We decided to do a whole passed dinner, some finger food other courses on small plates.  Throughout the evening we served courses as guests mingled, some sat at tables and others enjoyed the garden.  The format was perfect for the exuberant group. This time of year much of the produce comes from DC, both from the garden at 1508 and The Farm at Walker Jones.  Additional produce was from Path Valley Cooperative, Eggs from Whitmore Farms, Beef and Bacon from Eco Friendly Foods.

Friday Night Menu

Chilled Spicy Banana Melon Soup

Black Barley Risotto with Parsley

Green Beans on Bacon with French Breakfast Radish

Hangar Steak with Grilled Red Onion

Squash Blossom Stuffed with Summer Squash and Walnuts

Scrambled Eggs with Sorrel

Cipolline in Balsamic

Roasted Eggplant, Okra, Fig and Shallot Wrapped in Collard Green

Tomato, Corn, Baby Lima Bean Salad in a Spelt Foccacia

Pacific Halibut with Basil Mashed Potato and Chard

Jasper Hill Farm Cloth Bound Cheddar on Walnut Cracker

Peach Ice Cream on a Corn Cake with Popcorn

Mini Chocolate Cake

Spicy Chocolate, Almond Cookies

Early September Wedding, Big Garden Roses

Last weekend I did flowers for a gorgeous bride who got married at Woodend Audubon Society.  The feeling was soft and lush– an abundance of garden roses and freesia mixed with first of the season seeded eucalyptus and ranunculus.  Alexandra Kovach worked closely with both the bride and myself on every floral detail, thank you!  It was the first time that I worked with the photographer Robert Holley and in addition to the fabulous wedding photos I totally appreciate the flower-centric photos he took and shared with me, see below...

September 15, Shop at Whole Foods to Benefit Walker Jones

Over the last several months we have been working intensely on a farm on the corner of New Jersey and K Streets, NW.  The Farm is on the campus of the DC Public School Walker Jones.  It is for the school and the surrounding community.  About 2 months ago the nearly 3/4 acre plot was a grassy field.  On July 16 we began tilling and since then we have grown hundreds of pounds of food which we have shared with students and their families, made into school snacks, given to neighbors and donated to DC Central Kitchen.  We have gotten this far with no money exchanged, just help from volunteers and generous donations of seeds and other supplies. Next Wednesday September 15 Whole Foods is going to donate 5% of their sales from the P Street, Georgetown and Tenley Stores to benefit the Farm at Walker Jones.  This money will be a great boost and help us to further develop the emerging farm.  All shopping at Whole Foods next Wednesday will be greatly appreciated!!

Bread and Butter Style Zucchini

We picked squash today with the K-Kids we have been working at Walker Jones Farm. The Hydrid squash variety is nothing we would have chosen to plant, however after tasting the squash we are happy we did. We planted this particular variety of zucchini because the seeds were donated by Coach, a farmer who works for Whole Foods.  They went into the ground a little less than 6 weeks ago and we have already harvested well over 50 pounds!  Last week we made muffins for the kids at Walker Jones, Saturday volunteers (volunteer day his Saturday from 9-12) have taken squash home and tomorrow we will make mini pizzas for the Walker Jones K-class snack.  Tonight John pickled four large ball jars worth of the squash, some for the for the office of community outreach, some for K-class snacks later in the week. Bread and Butter Style Pickled Zucchini

Apple cider vinegar is a must when making bread and butter pickles. We did not use a recipe--our only measure was taste.

Basically what you need is about five pound of squash, 16 cipolline onions, one nearly full 16 oz jar of Bragg's apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, tumeric and mustard seeds--We did not use any herbs because we wanted the fresh taste of squash bouncing off the high notes of vinegar but you could add some.

Wash squash well and pat dry and slice, about an 1/8 of an inch thick, place in a large bowl and set aside.

Peel cipollines and slice the same thickness as squash.

Place cipollines in a large pot.  Pour the vinegar over the cippolines. Bring the mixture to a boil, as mixture is heating add small amounts of the remaining ingredients: tumeric, salt, sugar, mustard seeds. Keep tasting and adding until you get the desired flavor.

If vinegar is too strong add water. Salt also cuts vinegar...

Once the mixture comes to a boil pour over the zucchini.  Use plates to make sure      that the zucchini is submerged in the pickling liquid.

After the zucchini cools to room temperature put in individual jars and refrigerate.

Sunday Salad August 1...after farming

Basically the last several months have been consumed with WJ Farm, a half acre farm at the corner of NJ and K Streets NW, that is on the campus of Walker Jones Educational Campus, a DC Public School.  The last couple weeks however have been obsessive–  a couple weeks ago after a whole lot of talk we finally broke ground and since that time I have spent as much time as possible at the farm.  This morning was beautiful and we arrived early, 6 hours flew by weeding and talking.  We were so engrossed that we did not realize how much time had passed or how hungry we were.  On the way home we stopped at the Bloomingdale Farmers Market and bought pretty much one of each vegetable available, all were made into a huge summertime salad which we enjoyed by the forkful on slices of left over bread I had baked yesterday.

Today's August Salad:

fresh butter beans (I covered these with water, brought them to a boil, cooked for about 2 minutes, drained them and immediately cooled them with cold water), sliced huge yellow and orange heirloom tomato, sliced white peach, lots of chopped parley and basil plus a little oregano from our garden, spinach, raw corn cut off the cob, sliced small cucumbers, sliced raw okra from our garden, great Italian olive oil, a drop of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste

All the ingredients were tossed together in a large bowl, seasoned and consumed.  This is my favorite summertime meal which is never the same twice.

If you have a moment and interest come check out The WJ Farm just to see what is going on or to work...Let me know when you are coming and I will meet you there.

Friday July 23, 2010

July is not the busiest cooking month for us which is always a bit frustrating because food is fantastic this time of year. Figs, greens, okra and herbs are coming from our own garden and the offerings from our friends at Path Valley Cooperative are extensive...I had a choice this week of 15 types of beets! We were happy to cook three times last week for enthusiastic eaters– 2 Home Restaurants and one Nomadic Restaurant. Below is the food and wine we served on Friday night.

passing Whitmore Farms chicken liver with garlic, lemon and fennel Whitmore Farms scrambled eggs and sorrel Whitmore Farms bbq rabbit Whitmore Farms grilled goat on kohlrabi Figs with cabbage and radish Chilled beet soup with cauliflower Stuffed squash blossom

Lavender Vodka Martini (Cuilleron) ROSE 'Sybel' VDP des Collines Rhodaniennes 2009

seated Eco Friendly Foods beef sirloin with tiny potato, fermented grains, chives and parsley (Pierre Gauthier) Bourgeuil "Vingt Lieux Dits" 2006

Purslane, tomato, peas, figs, green beans, corn, arugula and basil salad (DeAngelis) Passerina DOC Offida 2009

Pacific black cod, okra, eggplant, carrot, blackened onion and baby red kale (Regis Forey) Nuits Saint Georges AOC 2006

Ardrahan Cheese on a Walnut Cracker

Corn cake with raspberries, black berries, frozen maple syrup and caramelized pecans (Tissot) Cremant du Jura "Indigene" NV

Non Dairy Milk and Yogurt

We have a few cooking projects that we are working on this summer. We have made non dairy milk before but have never come up with a specific recipe that we could regularly make to have in our pantry in lieu of buying cartons of milk. This milk will now be incorporated into our larder.

Non-Dairy Milk:

2 cups cashews 1 1/2 cup rolled oats 1 1/2 cup pearled barley

1.Place cashews in a large bowl and cover with 6 cups of boiling water. Let sit for 20 minutes to an hour.

2.Place oats and barley in a large pot. Add 9 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let cook for 3 minutes. Cover mixture and let sit for 10 minutes. Letting this mixture sit longer will result in a thicker milk. Do not worry if the grains do not seem completely cooked they are ideal for extracting milk.

3.Place the grain mixture in a high power blender with 4 additional cups of water, I suggest at Vita Mix. Blend in batches for 30 seconds each. Strain mixture through a very fine strainer, discard the solid and keep the liquid.

4.Wash the blender thoroughly. Blend the cashew mixture until completely smooth and there is no remaining grainy-ness, about 2 minutes.

5.Combine the cashew and the grain mixture, chill your milk. This might be more of a cream like texture. If this mixture is too thick for your taste or desired use it can be thinned slightly with filtered water.

Non dairy yogurt has always been illusive because what is available at the market has lots of sugar. We are thrilled to have this as an option.

Non Dairy Yogurt:

9 cups non dairy milk (see recipe above) 2 cup yogurt starter (for first batch you can purchase any non dairy live yogurt for subsequent batches you can save 2 cups of your own yogurt to use as the starter) at room temperature

1.Heat milk to 110 degrees. Wisk in yogurt starter. Pour yogurt into glass or plastic containers, leaves lids ajar, partially covering the mixture but allowing air into the yogurt as well.

2.Let containers sit in a warm place at room temperature until yogurt reaches desired sourness and thickness. This will take anywhere from 8-20 hours. Cover with lids and refrigerate.

Yields approximately 1 gallon yogurt

Vegan Class, Thursday July 8th


Thursday morning a great group of women came over to 1508 to talk about vegan food, vegan cooking and then we sat down to eat what we had prepared…while continuing to talk.

Luckily Suzanne was part of the group and took notes to help document the discussion…

As everyone gathered I asked what had drawn them to spend a good part of the day talking about vegan food. The answers were varied but everyone was interested in at least incorporating more vegan food into their diets. This led to a discussion about how each of us needs to determine a way of eating that works for us as individuals. This method of eating needs to take into consideration your metabolism, lifestyle, desires, schedule…Basically each of us needs to determine what feels right.

While preparing and enjoying lunch we talked about, among other things:
-Nutrition, sources of protein (beans, nuts, grains)
-Satisfaction, nut purees were of great interest
-Seasonal Ingredient Driven Food, sources and availability
-Cooking Methods
1. Roast, grapeseed oil, salt and pepper
2. Pickle/Marinate (raw), salt, pepper, acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and oil
3. Boil or Soak (mostly grains or beans), salt and pepper
4. Seasoning, allium, herbs, spices, vinegars and oils
-Processed vegan food and how to avoid
-Sweeteners, vegan sugar, agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, stevia
-Soy how much is good? How much is too much?
-Benefits of coconuts, especially young coconuts
-Setting up a vegan friendly pantry

Beforehand, John helped me prep a bunch of ingredients to facilitate the discussion and the lunch…
Grains (except where noted we cooked one cup of grains with 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt)
Cracked wheat- pour 1 ½ cups hot water over and let sit until absorbed, about 5 minutes
Red lentils- bring to boil take off heat and let sit in water (drain sooner or later depending on desired texture)
Quinoa- cooking time depends on your desired final consistency
Brown rice- bring rice and 1 ½ cups water to boil, cover, turn to simmer, cook for 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Farro – cook until soft, about 15 minutes
Barley- cook until soft, about 15 minutes

Nuts (soaked in water for a couple hours and then pureed in Vita Mix Blender)
cashew
pistachio
almond

Seeds (made into dressings)
pumpkin seed dressing
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup plus 2 teaspoons water
½ teaspoon salt

sesame dressing
½ cup tahini
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Vegetables
Tomato, Fava Beans, English Pea, Sno Peas, Pea Shoots, Fennel, Leeks, Baby Beet with Greens, Carrots, Cucumbers, Purple and Yukon Gold Potatoes, Kohlrabi

While talking Thursday morning we prepared:
-walnut whole wheat bread, follow this link to a blog post I wrote about bread...the last paragraph has a recipe

-water soup, water, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, thyme, rosemary, sage, tiny potatoes and baby carrots

-red lentils with sorrel, farro and olive oil

-roasted baby purple and Yukon gold potatoes with pumpkin seed dressing and fresh chives

-roasted snow peas with barley, walnut vinegar and cider vinegar

-pursalane with kohlrabi, small tomatoes, fresh mint, parsley, lemon and olive oil

-roasted baby beets and tops with basil, balsamic and pistachio cream seasoned with pink Himalayan salt

-english peas, fava beans with cracked wheat, thyme, olive oil and sherry vinegar

-black and red raspberries with cashew cream (sweetened with maple syrup)

-oatmeal cookies
2 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup soy, almond or rice milk
1/4 cup grapeseed or olive oil
1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
(add anything...dark chocolate chips, dried fruit, spices, puree fresh herbs with sugar...)

1.Combine all ingredients in a mixer and mix until about half of the oatmeal is broken into small pieces.
2.Bake individual cookies in a 350 degree oven until they are golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes.

-chocolate white poppy seed shortbread

-salty rosemary walnut biscotti, follow link for this recipe and other vegan cookies

Great way to spend the day. I look forward to more discussions like this in the future.

Grandmothers Pink Peonies

These fabulous photos by Jennifer Domenick are from one of my June weddings. As I often say, I love doing flowers for weddings because of the collaboration. This wedding was just that...the brides bouquet and some of the other arrangements contained pink peonies from the brides grandmothers garden. The flower were carefully picked and wrapped by the brides mother who brought them to me to store until the wedding day (picked at marshmallow stage, wrapped in newspaper and stored in a cooler for a few weeks).

This wedding was the first time that I had worked with Jennifer Domenick of Love Life Images. The images below are stunning, to see more from the wedding check out Jennifer's blog posting about the event.

Thank you to Aimee and Danielle who I adore working with from Aimee Dominick events, as usual they took care of every detail–









Yeast, Fungi and Curing Diseases??


I make bread all the time and have a fascination and respect for yeast. I am not sure if I knew before reading this article but yeast is fungi– something else I have fascination and respect for–thinking about how yeast could potentially cure degenerative diseases... Olivia Judson, who I am a big fan of recently wrote an article about all of this called "Bubbles, Bread and Beer"...I really enjoyed reading it.